I got a creepy one that makes Quentin Terrantino and Stephen King seem like Walt Disney in comparison!It happened about four years ago, before I started keeping a dream journal, but I still remember it to this day.

There was a man in a leather costume like The Gimp from Pulp Fiction, but taller and stronger. His body and face were covered in black leather with several zippers in odd places like that famous Michael Jackson jacket from the cover of "Bad". His long, greasy, matted hair flowed out the top of the costume and draped down just past his shoulders. He was in a house, and it was quaint and pristine like that of a pleasant grandmother. I remember seeing a lot of white and cleanliness, but this guy was revolting and out of place.

There was a mattress propped up against a wall standing upright and on it were several children, wrapped around each other in a twisted mess. I could see a head protruding from the tangled mess and a leg somewhere else and couldn't tell which part belonged to which child. There were a few strands of barbed wire wrapped around them all. The 'thing' clad in black leather had two strands of barbed wire, one in each hand, and he was in control of the tension. He would pull and it would squeeze the children as they cried in pain.

Although disturbing, this is not what I would call a nightmare. I wasn't really IN the dream and was just viewing it like a movie. I still wonder where that imagery can come from. How can my mind make that stuff up!??!

Thinking about it now though.... pleasant living room decor, monstrous person torturing kids..... sounds like Hansel and Gretal. (Candy house with a witch inside).

Well.. after having my fare share of every night nightmares for a couple of years, i m not too sure which ones go into which category.

Most of them will be.. at night being chased by either a murderer or kidnapper. Just not being able to get away or running and running for what seems hours.

Then there is of course the whole... everyone dying around me, very detailed deaths and gore.

And then there's the almost 'delirious' dream where everything is just out of control, srange, uncomfortable and fast passed.

All of these would leave me feeling like crap the next day. Tired, out of breath, not being able to concentrate.

Some are nightmares some are disturbing imagery. That have come as close to as real as it could be (a vivid dream)

Eg:

Having a reoccurring dream of my whole family getting on some sort of spaceship that was going to smash into the sun. I pleaded with them all not to get on it - but they do and im watching it happen. All of them die.

SarahDank wrote: I too have the weird veiwing point of people dying or being killed. But wouldn't you still classify that as a nightmare??? It is disturbing imagery but you're still seeing it happen.

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Nightmares are dreams that tend to have high amounts of negative emotion. This does not neccessary mean that dark and grim dreams are nightmares. For example, the dream that sort of started this whole thread. It involved a skinned and flayed man being slowly fed into a hand-cranked mincer. It was stupidly gruesome, but unlike nightmares, the dream lacked the negative emotion like fear and disgust.

You have bought a ticket for a train of thought heading for your wildest dreams. Choose your destination, and enjoy the ride!

Violence doesn't always mean terror. There are some gruesome yet FUNNY movies such as Shaun of the Dead. I'm not saying I laugh at my dark imagery, but it is not terrifying either. Disturbing, but not terrifying.

When emotions are out of control. That is how I define nightmares to me.

SarahDank wrote:And then there's the almost 'delirious' dream where everything is just out of control, srange, uncomfortable and fast passed.

I didn't mention the Night Terror category. I had a few of those when I was a child, and it is common in children. DELIRIOUS would be how I describe that. I had a very strong feeling that something HUGE was inexorably going to destroy everybody and everything and it can't be stopped. In my child's mind the way I envisioned it once was, Godzilla or King Kong coming after me in my house, or a giant astroid the size of a planet coming for Earth. And I can't stop it! I was feverishly delirious and was sleep running around the house!

But that is a strong emotion without something to attribute it to. There is a difference. Between a choice of the two, I'll take the creepy, barbed wire gimp any day!

SarahDank wrote:Most of them will be.. at night being chased by either a murderer or kidnapper.

That's very common for nightmares. Something out to get you!For me it was always about ghosts and believing my room was haunted. It was scary, but why does it have to be scary at all when I think about it now?When has a ghost ever hurt anybody? What do they do? Show up unexpectedly, make noises, move furniture and shake chandeliers? They are no more than house pests really and need to be exterminated by the Ghost Busters.

And yet it is still a very deep seeded fear deep with in us. But why? If ghosts exist, you should be more concerned with their right to vote and their path to citizenship than any harm they will bring. More people die from LIVING people than dead people! (Fears can be irrational sometimes.)

But being chased by a murderer or kidnapper. That is the PERFECT time to BE AFRAID! Nothing irrational about that!

I'm gonna post yet another reply. (3 in a row. That's a first. I must be passionate about this.)This is about the terror of Sleep Paralysis. I've had this too in the past and it has been over a year since my last episode.

Although illogical, it truly felt like there was a demon (most malevolent, evil force I can describe) was in my room and wanted to 'get me'. I assumed take my soul and possess me. After I woke up and thought about it, it is illogical. If there ARE such things as demons, why would they possess little 'ol me and take over MY life? They are getting the short end of the stick! If anything they should go after the wealthy and powerful. Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, watch out!

Shear logic and reason can conquer fear sometimes. But the Sleep Paralysis and Night Terrors are strong emotional states without reason when they happen. Without a strong emotion, it is just creepy imagery and sensations and nothing more.

Another disturbing - but not nightmare at all dream I used to have would be Something like this:

Im sitting at a post apocolyptic beach like the one in The Road. Suddenly, i get this urge that I need to find something. I jump into the blood red ocean. The sky is dark, around like 7 oclock but stays that way throughout the dream. The ocean is perfectly calm. After about 20 minutes of swimming, I finally reach a floating dock. Its massive and sprals out around a square mile, in crazy random directions. On it, there are old cages filled with dead and bleeding animals. Some fresh, some old, and rotten. Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dogs eye is perfect for an image. Most were pigs. There were other animals but it was only their heads. I walked around these bloodstained docks for about what feels like an hour and I find a big dog. This is what im looking for. I climb on its back and it swims me to the shore. Freaky right?

You know, I find I feel much more emotional stress in my dreams if it involves animals being hurt, ( not as much for people). I think it's a feeling of their innocence ( innocent of human ugliness; you know, all those delightfully selfish and greedy human characteristics we all have) and the animals vulnerability to our ugly human endeavors, that makes it emotional for me, and therefore a nightmare.

The key to creativity is to remove the watchers from the gates, and realize how free you really are.